IRIX and Software

We are pleased to announce the release of FlightGear v0.9.8.

FlightGear is a free, open-source, multi-platform flight simulator.
It is available for free download from:

http://www.flightgear.org

FlightGear features:

* Sophisticated and highly tunable flight dynamics engines.
* Aircraft modeling system that supports fully interactive, fully 3d cockpits, sophisticated internal and external animations can be tied to just about any FlightGear variable.
* SRTM based world scenery available for free download.
* Over 20,000 airports modeled around the world.
* Seamless continuous oblate ellipsoid world model.
* Accurate day/night and lighting effects synced to real time.
* Correct sun, moon, star, and planet placement (and correct phase of the moon.)
* Ability to automatically sync with real weather conditions via the internet.
* Flexible, adaptable, interfaceable, open architecture.
* Complete source code licensed under the GPL.
* Ported to many platforms including Windows, Max OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and sgi.

A summary of the new features, updates, and changes for this release
can be viewed here:

http://www.flightgear.org/version.html

Erik

I've posted this on the news page. Thanks!

nekonoko wrote: I've posted this on the news page. Thanks!

Great, thanks Nekonoko!

Erik

We just got the BG Electronics flybox up and running for our sim. I'll have to see if I can get it to work with flightgear on the Onyx350!

squeen wrote: We just got the BG Electronics flybox up and running for our sim. I'll have to see if I can get it to work with flightgear on the Onyx350!

Joystick support for IRIX is very limited in FlightGear (well .. actually there is no joystick support), but:

There is a js_server program included in the FlightGear/utils/js_server (sourcecode) directory. The client for this server is part of FlightGear, so you could modify the joystick server to accept the values from this device and drive FlightGear using this (network) protocol.

Erik

Thanks skybound. I figured I would have to mod the code some -- the beauty of open-source!

Key Action

4/6 Aileron
8/2 Elevator
_____________
Source: FlightGear Short Reference

Right clicking the mouse activates the simulator control mode (cross hair cursor). This allows control of aileron/elevator via the mouse in absence of a joystick (enable --enable-auto-coordination in this case).

Right clicking the mouse another time activates the view control mode (arrow cursor). This allows changing direction of view via the mouse.

Right clicking the mouse once more resets it into the initial state.
_____________
Source: FlightGear Short Reference

There are keypad joysticks that can be purchased from various internet sites. They are just plugged into PS/2 port and moving such joystick functions just as pressing number/arrow keys. Other keys except those four numbers/arrows are the same as on keyboard keypad and you can press them. No drivers needed at all.

There are also muse joysticks that can be purchased from various internet sites. They are just plugged into PS/2 port and moving such joystick functions just as moving the cursor with mouse. Mouse buttons are also included. No drivers needed at all.

There are also PS/2 headtrackers and motion trackers, originally developed for people with disabilities, that are just plugged into PS/2 port and function, depending on which version you buy, just as moving the mouse or keypad number/arrow keys. There is a small control box that comes with it which transforms motion signals to mouse or keypad nubber/arrow PS/2 signal. No drivers needed at all. Works on every system with standard PS/2 port. Sensitivity of such movement, meaning turning your head around the cockpit or sensitivity of aileron or elevator for such device can thus be set in IRIX as mouse cursor sensitivity/reactivity.

The ultimate cheap solution for home users of FlightGear on IRIX would be buying one of those lcd VR glasses (there are also dual channel input versions if you have such gfx) and then using PS/2 keypad joystick for flight controls and PS/2 mouse headtracker for VR glasses. No drivers needed at all.

Hi!

Has anyone here tried to run FlightGear on a Onyx2?
I have no success here. After i start fgfs (with fgrun or simply by ./fgfs) it just prints 'Abort' to the console and quits. On my Octane2 it runs nicely with the same installation and settings. Is there something i'm doing wrong or does it simply not run on Onyx2? I tried 0.9.8 and 0.9.6, both with the same results.

Cheers,
Michael

msunix wrote: Hi!

Has anyone here tried to run FlightGear on a Onyx2?
I have no success here. After i start fgfs (with fgrun or simply by ./fgfs) it just prints 'Abort' to the console and quits. On my Octane2 it runs nicely with the same installation and settings. Is there something i'm doing wrong or does it simply not run on Onyx2? I tried 0.9.8 and 0.9.6, both with the same results.

Unfortunately I have only access to an O2. There is another developer running it on an Octane.

Could you sent the last few (say 20) lines of output when running fgfs --log-level=info

Erik

Hi Erik!

Thanks for doing a good job in porting FlightGear to Irix!
Unfortunately i don't get much useful information about the crash, i fear. As i mentioned, all i see is the following:



That's all! Do you have any idea what it could be?

Regards,
Michael

msunix wrote: Hi Erik!

Thanks for doing a good job in porting FlightGear to Irix!

You're welcome.

msunix wrote: Unfortunately i don't get much useful information about the crash, i fear. As i mentioned, all i see is the following:

Code: Select all

michael@onyx2:/opt/FlightGear/bin > ./fgfs --log-level=info
Abort
michael@onyx2:/opt/FlightGear/bin >

That's all! Do you have any idea what it could be?

Not really, I searched all through the code to see if it is generated by either FlightGear or one of it's support libraries but none of them print "Abort" and end the program.

Maybe there is a hint in the SYSLOG?

Erik

on my Indy r5k with XZ I get a kernel panic when I launch fgrun... The screen gets all black and then crash

-R

gandalf wrote: on my Indy r5k with XZ I get a kernel panic when I launch fgrun... The screen gets all black and then crash

-R

I really don't think FlightGear can run on any Indy. Even my O2 is worse than I would have hoped for. I'm sorry.

At this page you can see what framerate you could expect for your hardware:
http://www.a1.nl/~ehofman/fgfs/comparison.html

Erik

Hi Erik!

There's nothing in the syslog too... But so i don't get distraced from work...

Cheers,
Michael

SkyBound wrote:

msunix wrote: Hi!

Has anyone here tried to run FlightGear on a Onyx2?
I have no success here. After i start fgfs (with fgrun or simply by ./fgfs) it just prints 'Abort' to the console and quits.

Unfortunately I have only access to an O2. There is another developer running it on an Octane.

Errrm, I might be the mentioned developer running FlightGear on an Octane R12k and R10k
(back to R10k after the R12k CPU died ....).
I've never seen such an 'Abort' but I guess it is a CPU incompatibility. The FlightGear binary
is built for R10k and it is known to work on an R5k2 of the mentioned O2 as well but it
probably doesn't run on those CPU's that are built into the Onyx2 !?

Mgras wrote:

SkyBound wrote: Errrm, I might be the mentioned developer running FlightGear on an Octane R12k and R10k
(back to R10k after the R12k CPU died ....).
I've never seen such an 'Abort' but I guess it is a CPU incompatibility. The FlightGear binary
is built for R10k and it is known to work on an R5k2 of the mentioned O2 as well but it
probably doesn't run on those CPU's that are built into the Onyx2 !?

Actually I build tow binaries, one for R4k and one for R10k which are clearly marked that way. So I don't expect that would be the problem. It could be worth the effort to try the other binaries though.

Erik